Insect anchoring inspires better suction cups

Engineers are often seeking better methods to stick articles to surfaces, for applications such as picking delicate berries or ensuring that surgeons can grasp tissue during operations. A discovery by zoologists at Cambridge University may have potential to help solve these problems.

The researchers are studying an insect called the net-winged midge, members of a family known as Blephariceridae. These long legged insects, like many flies, have larvae which are aquatic, and have a particular trick: they can anchor themselves firmly to rocks in streams flowing as fast as 3m/s. They do this using suction cups on their underside. The Cambridge team, as they describe in BMC Zoology, have succeeded in imaging these suction cups in high detail, revealing how they work.

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The cups can stand up to any force below 600 times the larvae bodyweight, explained Victor Kang, a PhD student and first author of the paper. "The force of the river water where the larvae live is absolutely enormous, and they use their suction organs to attach themselves with incredible strength. If they let go they're instantly swept away," he said. "They aren't bothered at all by the extreme water speeds - we see them feeding and moving around in all directions."